Chapter² - A Black Umbrella

Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook had met quite early on.

Long before Taehyung first appeared on TV screens, the two of them had had a meeting.

At that time, Taehyung was a third year student at a famous university. One day on the street had been given a business card. For Taehyung who looked clean and good-looking this was not the first time something like this had happened. Every time previously he had simply thrown it into the trash bin and never thought about it again.

However that year was the first time his older brother Kim Younghoon had experienced a business failure, resulting in a large debt. Although the sum was nothing compared to the one that in the future the Taehyung who had gotten famous would have to repay for him, however at that time it was enough to make the Kim family suffer some pressure.

Thus, Taehyung's father and mother came to Taehyung to discuss withdrawing him from school.

Younghoon was their oldest son. And their “backup son” Taehyung was someone who had been born unexpectedly and was outside their plans. In these two old people’s hearts, their expectations and concerns for their eldest son Younghoon was always much higher than their second son Taehyung.

And this time if Younghoon was not able to come up with the money, he would face the penalty of a bankruptcy record, and would be a stain that he would not be able to clean off his entire life. So no matter what the fact that the younger brother Taehyung should reach out to help his brother was something that they felt was to be expected.

Taehyung was not surprised by this request even though he was not close emotionally with Younghoon who was older than him by seven years. However withdrawing from school would impact his future greatly. So in order to remain in school and still have money to help his family, Taehyung sought out the company who had given him the business card. He thought about the advance signing bonus that the company promised him. If he could help Younghoon weather this initial hardship, then he could slowly make up the rest in time.

However in this world there was no such thing as a free lunch. The Taehyung who was innocent and naive and didn’t have any society experience, fell into a trap this time. After he received the money, Younghoon's burdens were reduced greatly. However at this time Taehyung found out that his first job was to go to a club to accompany people to drink. He regretted it but it was too late to back out.

It was at this time that Taehyung went out to the club, that he met the VIP customer, Jeon Jungkook.

Jungkook was immediately attracted to the pale-faced Taehyung at first glance. It was not related to Taehyung's appearance. It wasn’t as though that in the circle of actors and models that he was used to associating in, that there wasn’t anyone better looking than Taehyung. What piqued Jungkook's interest was the expression of panic and disgust in those eyes which the young man was unable to completely conceal. He wanted to see what it would take to make this young man yield.

However Jungkook overestimated Taehyung. After only a few sips of spirits, Taehyung became dizzy and was able to pushed down by Jungkook into the couch. After being held underneath his chin and kissed with tongue, with their upper thighs rubbing together, Taehyung's eyes were filled with tears and he was played with by Jungkook until he was trembling and humiliated and nearly came inside his pants.

It was Jungkook who was pressing Taehyung down who decided not to do it until the end. It was like he was playing with a small animal. He only licked Taehyung's red ears and unexpectedly let Taehyung go that night.

But the day after Taehyung ran away in a panic from the club, he received the notice that his contract had been transferred to the Eun Gang Group’s subsidiary “Total Entertainment”. He received a call from a slew of strangers which told him that Total Entertainment’s big boss was Jungkook and that he was very interested in taking Taehyung as a kept lover, because he was clean and beautiful.

Taehyung was so angry his entire body trembled. He was also both shocked and scared.

When Jungkook called personally to ask him, Taehyung rejected him with a trembling voice. To this Jungkook replied in his husky voice and on the phone lightly laughed at Taehyung for his innocence and naivety.

In the following weeks Taehyung was on tenterhooks, afraid that Jungkook would come after him for revenge, however nothing came of it. However all of the good opportunities for training and exposure passed him by. The other small name actors beside him told him that this could be counted as being slowly frozen out. If he didn’t consider changing his answer, then his career as an actor would be at an end.

This was something that Taehyung could only wish for. The Taehyung at that time only wanted to fulfill his contract at the most basic level. Once he repaid his debt, he would be free of this world of darkness and evil.

However it was as though the company wanted to keep Taehyung hanging. Every job he got came with minimal payment, such as being the waiter at a wine exhibition or passing out flyers at a car exhibition. This way it was dragged on and on, the contract wore on for over a year and by the time Taehyung graduated university, he still had not repaid his debt.

In this time Taehyung had also considered breaking the contract. However the high cost of breaking the contract was not something that Taehyung could repay. Also, the contract clearly stated that during the time of the contract, Taehyung was not able to undertake any other kind of separate work. Whether it be a tutor, shop assistant or even an assistant teacher at the school, it was all not possible.

It was completely denying Taehyung all work opportunities. Even though he graduated from university, if he wasn’t able to get out of the contract, Taehyung was still restricted and had no income. And at this time the Kim family was still not able to completely walk out from the shadow of Younghoon's failed business venture. In the face of Taehyung's inability to work, they were filled with laments and complaints. They had completely forgotten that the entire reason that Taehyung had gotten into this mess was because of Younghoon.

After Taehyung graduated university for two months, just as his situation was becoming more and more hopeless, the company suddenly unexpectedly gave him a role in a long drama that was to run for over half a year. It was also something that suited Taehyung image.

In order to help him undertake this role which had a “not many but also not few” number of scenes, the appropriate acting lessons and training also soon followed. In the next four months, Taehyung undertook a busy and varied schedule of training which was almost equal to the official artists signed to the company.

Of course, the costs of such a training were to be undertaken by Taehyung himself. According to the entertainment company, since the benefit of the training was Taehyung then it was up to Taehyung to pay for it. However it seemed that the previous incident of Taehyung rejecting being a kept lover seemed to have been forgotten by the company.

Taehyung was suspicious about this incident however he couldn’t consider it too much. The reality of his circumstances forced him to accept these conditions. He seriously undertook his training programme and completely dedicated himself to his first role in “Partners for Life” as a single father, Jang Shin-seong.

In the drama, although Taehyung acting ability was shallow, however his image completely completely fulfilled the requirements of the role. He was someone who had not been in society for long, an innocent and awkward single father. All of this helped to cover up Taehyung's inexperience, and the addition of the cute and genius six year old child star Duo Duo helped a lot too. He acted as Taehyung's son in the drama and helped Taehyung became famous almost overnight.

As the six month long drama “Partners” slowly broadcasted, during this time the company also helped Taehyung accept many advertisement endorsements. All different types of jobs came his way and further helped push Taehyung into the road of becoming an actor and after this it was impossible for him to get away.

Even afterwards when his fortune turned, Taehyung did not consider leaving the road of being an actor. The first acting job really brought to Taehyung many feelings of true joy.

However afterwards, Taehyung once again had a second business failure. This time Younghoon did not learn from the mistakes of the first time, and after falling in with some unsavory ‘friends’ and believing he had some insider knowledge, he thought he could invest in an unlisted company and be able to win back a great reward. Thus he borrowed a large sum of money from an underground money lender, and placed it all into this company.

However in the end the insider knowledge he received was only empty air. Thus Younghoon fell into a huge debt. When the underground money lender furiously pursued him to repay the money, the entire Kim family was placed under violent threats of danger. The Taehyung who had no house or assets could only open his mouth to ask the entertainment company for more money in order to help his brother repay his debts and bypass the storm.

From that day on, the Taehyung who on the screen was bright and dazzling, began to take on the dark and terrible burden of repaying debts.

Because it wasn’t just Younghoon's debt itself, but more because Taehyung had been contracted to endorse several products, however when the news of Younghoon's debts ruined Taehyung's image, he had repay a much larger damage of defaulting on his contracts.

{A/N: Because his contract stipulates that he cannot have any image damaging incidents, or be forced to pay damages.}

And these two incidents of great rises and great falls became like a vicious cycle. And Younghoon continued to ask Taehyung to help him repay various debts. Thus Taehyung's debts became more and more, to the extent that even if he wanted to buy a car, he had to consider things carefully.

However Taehyung's debtee, from the beginning to the end, had always been Jeon Jungkook.

It was Jungkook who helped Taehyung settle his damages for breaking his contracts, it was him that accepted all of Taehyung's responsibilities. And the reason seemed to be just so he could at irregular intervals call Taehyung on the phone, to discuss with him his debts and his choices in life, and ask him to reconsider his proposal which was still valid: to be his kept lover.

After seeing the gentle but stubborn Taehyung refuse him time after time, it seemed that Jungkook was able to get some joy out of these interactions. He loved to bring up this proposal each time Taehyung was at his lowest, to test his perseverance.

This kind of mocking and playful attitude provided an explanation for some things. The people beside Taehyung, whether it be his stylist, manager, or make up artist, were all people of skill and talent. However each time he faced a crucial trial, they would not receive much assistance. It was as though a cold blanket always covered Taehyung and so his road as an actor was always difficult and shallow.

It was not until the final time that Taehyung really broke his heart.

He would rather that these ugly and poisonous slanders were tricks that

Jungkook had created, rather than Kang Chireul. That was why he had run over here to accuse Jungkook. And the answer he had received was the one that until now he had been too afraid to face: Kang Chireul's betrayal.

It was probably good that he had died at that moment. Taehyung always thought this.

Facing the rejection of both his family and his lover, he really didn’t know what else he had to live for.

But he had never thought that Jungkook, whom Taehyung had always seen as a knife held to his throat, would be so unexpectedly sorrowful over him.

Even if there must have been some element of guilt in there, Taehyung had never blamed Jungkook. He only remembered Jungkook's holding the black umbrella, and his anguished profile. That image was like a stamp, from the moment it appeared, it remained stubbornly fixed in Taehyung's mind....

[Di-lin-lin-di-lin-lin–]

In the darkness the piercing sound of the mobile phone rang, breaking his daydream.

He picked up his phone and took a look. It was his older brother Younghoon calling.

Taehyung's heart felt extremely complicated. Because judging by the time, he knew that his older brother was calling to beg for his help.

After “Partners for Life” broadcasted for two months, Taehyung had only just signed a few important endorsement contracts. However it was at this time that Younghoon became indebted to the underground lender for the sum of two million borrowed money plus three million interest, a total sum of five million. He had received his final notice. If he didn’t pay within one week, then there would be consequences.

Since fate had chosen to let Taehyung do over everything again, then this time what should he chose....?

“Big brother,” Taehyung waited two more rings before answering the phone.

“Little brother!! You have to help me!! My life is in your hands!!”

Younghoon's cry sounded from the phone.

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